Past Meetings

2009-10 Presentations

May

Make Your Own Home Field Advantage

Joe Perzel, JPerzel & Associates

It is always important to have a "team" and "fans". The people who
always land on their feet are not loners. They have devoted time to
developing and maintaining a network of friends and associates who can
help them with their needs (including professional needs like finding a
new job, filling an open position, or understanding what new
technologies to pursue). In this presentation, Joe Perzel will explain
how to develop and maintain the network you need through face-to-face
contacts, social networking media, and other ways to add some "touch" to
a "techie" world.

April

IT Hiring Trends in 2010

Jim Johnson, Robert Half Technology

Jim has been with Robert Half for over 11 years, and will bring
his knowledge of job hunting, networking, and market intelligence to
share with NWAITP members.

March

Leadership 2.0; The Science Behind Great Leaders

Deb Jones, President, Jones Training Associates

A look at some of the new skills needed to be an effective leader
in today’s complex organizations and how to utilize the core
competencies of Emotional Intelligence to develop your personal
leadership skill set.

February

Stopping data leakage: Knowing the security threats and make sure you are protected now and into the future.
Organizations are increasingly aware of the acute need to control the
information that flows into, through and out of their networks. In our
presentation we demonstrate the need for a high-profile acceptable use
policy to prevent data leakage, gives practical guidance on how to use
your security budget effectively to protect data at the gateway and
endpoint, and highlights the benefits of encryption in securing data in
the event that it does get stolen or lost. We also talk about the
emerging Threat landscape present and future and how to protect your
company from them.

January

Getting Ready for Microsoft Office 2010
Kevin Remde, Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist, will give us a preview of the
improvements in the new version of Office 2010, an introduction to the
Office web apps, and what IT Pros will need to know about deployment
when its time.
To a large extent, Microsoft Office sets the environment for recording
and sharing between office workers. When a new version is released, it's
a big deal, so the nimble IT professional should learn what's coming.
Kevin Remde, IT Pro Evangelist, will give us a preview of what is in
the Beta versions, including: - Lots of new collaboration features - An
updated ribbon and menu that is even more consistent across products -
Office Web applications - New tools and functions in all the products,
including Word, Excel, Outlook, and OneNote

December

Green IT at Great River Energy
Companies are increasingly sensitive to the environmental impacts of
information technology. From the dollars and cents cost of energy to run
servers to the waste disposal impact of consumed supplies and discarded
electronics, "Green IT" has become a top-level executive issue. In this
presentation, Lauri Petersen will describe how Green River Energy
created a "green" data center and workplace when their corporate campus
moved in April 2008. Please come on Tuesday December 1 and learn
approaches you can use to help your organization become environmentally
more efficient and effective.
As Manager of Infrastructure Services at Great River Energy, Lauri
provides leadership and direction to her team of network,
telecommunications, and systems engineers responsible for the planning,
design, engineering, build, and 3rd level support of the technical
infrastructure which includes network, telecommunications, servers,
storage, and backup. The team is also responsible for technology
infrastructure standards, policies, and processes; as well as, technical
architecture.
Great River Energy is a not-for-profit cooperative which provides
wholesale electricity to more than 1.7 million people through 28 member
distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. With more than $2
billion in assets, Great River Energy is the second largest utility in
the states, based on generating capacity, and the fifth largest
generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative in the United States.
Prior to her role at Great River Energy, Lauri has held various IT
leadership roles at St. Jude Medical, Jostens, and Target Corporation.
Lauri has an Executive MBA from the University of St. Thomas.
Download Presentation (.pptx)

November

Presentation Topic: A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Informational Age to the Conceptual Age
Information is cheap! But, wisdom, artistry, creativity and innovation -
based on information - becomes a rare and valuable asset in our work
setting and in our homes.
This presentation explores our competitive work-edge by highlighting
business concepts of author, Daniel Pink, that focus on how we are
moving from an economy and society built on the logical, linear,
computer-like capabilities of the Informational Age to an economy and
society built on the inventive, empathetic, big-picture capabilities of
what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age.
It also addresses new work and life approaches that help us stay nimble
in an era of constant change. It involves "high concept” and "high
touch” and features right-brain vs. left-brain thought processing. It
discusses how collaboration (relationship building) is the buzzword for
this new Conceptual Age. While "analysis” defined the Informational Age,
"synthesis” defines the Conceptual Age. "Knowledge Workers” of the
Informational Age are being replaced by "Designers” of the Conceptual
Age. Design in its simplest form is the activity of creating solutions.
All workers of this new work era will need to be "Designers” – because
design is a "high-concept” aptitude that increasingly confers a
competitive advantage in business.
Download Presentation (.ppt)

October

Presentation Topic: Using Social Media to Stand Out in the Crowd
Social media, also known as social networking, is a rapidly growing way
to not only connect with people online, but also to help you do you job.
According to Forrester Research, 80 percent of US online adults use
social media at least once a month. LinkedIn is a professional social
network with a variety of uses for IT professionals. You can find a job,
connect with peers, and get technical questions answered by leveraging
the 45 million LinkedIn members. This presentation will show you how you
can optimize your personal profile, create a company profile, search
for jobs, customers, prospects, ask and answer questions, and join and
create groups. We'll also briefly delve into Twitter and Facebook and
convince you that these are real business tools, not toys for mindless
nattering.
Mike Ellsworth is a social media entrepreneur, trainer, and speaker with
15 years experience on the Web who has been a LinkedIn user since 2003
and an active Twitter user for the last year. He pitched his first
social networking gig in 2000, before there was even a name for it. Mike
has 24 years experience in IT including 5 years as a trainer for the
Nielsen Company and 6 years as an IT strategy consultant helping
companies from the Fortune 200 to small businesses adapt technology for
business advantage.
Download Presentation (.pdf)

September

Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is poised to make the transition from an interesting
concept to a mainstream corporate strategy. What is driving this
transition? What factors influence the decision to move IT services out
of the local data center and into the cloud? We’ll address these
questions and more using Business Productivity Online Services,
Microsoft’s recent foray into cloud computing, as a case study for the
pros and cons of cloud computing.